The Saddening Tumult
by M. Castor
Summary: The two BFFs are just at their breaking point. Seth has other plans in mind while Mia just wants to get through life happily. Crimson-eyed guy's foggy past manifests itself. Read after THE BREWING STORM/  Only small traces of Sonic theme
1. Chapter 1

**Happy Halloween people and enjoy!**

I couldn't look at that man whose name I still don't know in the face today. If I did, I would feel my face turn really hot and I wanna bury my head in the sand. Sand…reminds me of Moonlight Beach, which I'm never going to see again as long as I'm here. Seth, what we did we do to Moonlight Town? This never would have happened if you-if I-

Stop thinking about that Mia, and worry about the situation at hand. It's rude going through the day without saying anything and I can't just stare at the ground. We're right by the house, so say something-! Anything!

"Euh, I'm sorry about…yesterday, m-" I struggle to utter with shaky hands. I'm too scared to look up to see his expression-everything about this guy is scary. How come Ms. Topaz didn't come with us the yesterday or today? It would have helped a lot. I hear the guy's footsteps stop as I start to recognize the path decorated with autumn leaves leading up to the house, thank goodness. I pace down the path, finally lifting my head now that I'm further away from him.

"Keep him under check," the crimson-eyed boy warns in a threating tone. There was so much bitterness in that voice, it makes me want to run far away from here. Nonetheless, I keep my composure and get to the door and strangely enough, Seth is on the balcony, watching him behind me.

"Hey Seth!" I skip a little and wave. "What're you doing?"

"What am I doing? What were you doing?" asks Seth in a accusatory tone. I cross my arms and open my mouth in sheer surprise.

"Seth, I was helping him get another Chaos Emerald," I briefly explain without the frivolous details of my shame and embarrassment. "Like I did yesterday."

To my horror, his fists close tightly and his face forms in to a look of disgust. "What were you doing with him?"

"I'm…"

I stop my sentence short when Seth leaps from the balcony and lands two inches away from me. My heart pounds as I jump back, startled from his flashy descent.

"I-I explained this to you yesterday Seth. He needs Chaos Emeralds and I'm the only one who can find them. If I don't do this, I'm afraid he's going to hurt me, so I have to do this."

"Next time he comes, I'll handle him."

"Seth, please don't do that. Please don't."

"You think I'm not strong enough, just like yesterday," he pouts immaturely. I sigh exasperatedly and shake my head despondently. He went on and on about this nonsense about him being weak yesterday and that's why "I'm treating him like a dependent child".

"Seth, you're the strongest guy that I know," I say as I hurriedly follow him inside. "Why do you keep on saying you're weak?"

"I prefer if you didn't go out with him every day."

My cheeks flush-not with embarrassment but with frustration. "I don't have a choice."

"I told you, I could take care of him. You saw how I stopped that palm tree from crushing us before," he insists, turning to me with flaring nostrils.

"Seth, I don't doubt that you're strong-"

"How else am I supposed to prove it to you?"

"I really don't know." I turn my head away with blurry eyes. I haven't cried since I was a child and I can't break that record now. "_You're my best friend,_ and I worry about you."

"Then why are you against me? Ever since we came here, you've been against everything I did."

"That's not true," I storm out of the living room, stepping outside. I exhale, trying not to let sangfroid escape me. I'm not like this-I'm much more calm and composed and arguing with Seth is only going make matters worse.

Without expecting it, I feel rough hands on my wrists. Seth spins my body around to face him, with an earnest expression.

"You don't need to worry about me," he assures, but I'm still doubtful. "Trust me, I can take him and make sure you don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

"And trust me when I say this-that guy is not safe. Do you know how scared I was for you yesterday?" my voice becomes shaky. "Don't try anything."

"Mia," an unfamiliar voice from the familiar person hisses, "trust me."

I catch a glimpse of something purple on where Seth's hands are. The violet aura from yesterday is seeping from his hands and crawling onto my wrists. Fear opened my mouth but let no sound escape from it. Abruptly, twinges of pain scratched the surface of my skin, like a cat clawing my arms.

"Seth, stop it," I shakily beg, attempting to slip out of his grasp. He doesn't budge-he just glares at his aura-filled hands as if he is actually enjoying my pain. "Seth!"

Suddenly after my feeble tugging, my wrists slip out and I bump into the window. His glare dissipates seeing me rub my wrists profusely and shifts to a look of horrible realization. I avoid his eyes-his guilty expression would make me feel bad for being mad at him. Both of us are petrified in our stances; the cool breeze would blow and only our hairs would move. I wonder what he's thinking about-me? That scary guy? Being at Moonlight Town?

I used to be able to know what Seth was going to do, to say, and how he would reply to things. Even though it's only been a year, he's trusted me with all of his secrets and I've done the same. We spent practically every day together, going to the beach, and just being together all the time. I know him and he knows me.

_I don't know if I can still that now_. Ever since that day he told me about going to other worlds, I've never felt so disconnected from him. As if the Seth I knew was long gone and replaced with a look-alike. Why do I have a terrible feeling of things to come?

"Mia. I don't-I'm sorry," stammers Seth with a concerned tone but stern gaze. "I-this isn't…"

Sharply, he turns around and makes a cold dash away from me. I'm still stunned from what happened that I can't even open my mouth to call out to him. Actually, some part of me feels relieved-

What am I saying? Seth is leaving and you're letting him go!

With a delayed start, I start to follow him down the side of the road. Hey, he got much faster than before-it's hard to keep up with him without losing him, but then again, I'm going kinda slow on purpose.

The chase begins to take its toll on Seth's fatigue. We both shoved through the city crowds, annoyed the elders and it felt as if were back at home, running alongside on the sea when the moon spilled its light upon the entire island. It made me feel nostalgic for a second.

Then we cut through a park and now he's coming to a stop. While chasing him, I thought to myself, what would I say to him when I catch him? And I still haven't figured out what I could say. Seth takes in a couple of breaths, glances behind him to see me, and starts walking up the semi-steep hill. Reluctantly, I follow suit, trying to spit something out to stop him.

Finally, he reaches the top, and faces the setting sun. I catch up with him, put my hand on his shoulder leniently, finally knowing what to say.

"I'm sorry about everything that happened to us the past couple of days. It's been hard for me to deal with this, and I haven't considered your feelings while this was happening. We can do whatever you want to do and I'll see it your way, ok?"

He slowly faces me with an impassive gaze. I flash him a half-smile and shrug. "Well?"

"You've always considered my feelings for everything. You've got no reason to apologize," he says apathetically with his head to the ground. "…but I do. Mia, I've been keeping a secret from you."

My pupils dilate wildly as my grip loosens.

"Which is why I don't deserve," he gently removes my hand from his shoulder_, "your friendship."_

"Wha-?"

"I'm leaving."

"Why? Wha-what're you saying?" I hold my hands to my head.

"Always you've supported me in whatever we did. You think I've never noticed, but I do appreciate everything you do for me. But I can't bring you down anymore-this, this secret is too much for me, so I'm sorry. Don't follow me."

He begins to walk off the opposite direction. No, no, no-this can't happening.

"Seth, stop please! Whatever I did to you, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"You'll be consumed by me, so don't bother. I said not to follow me-" he insists without turning.

"Seth, let's just go back to the house and try to…" I'm unable to finish the sentence. After all of this, then what? What else can I do-no! I can't give up like this, I _need_ him with me.

He coldly grabs my reaching hand and throws it at me roughly. I take my hand back with tear-stricken eyes and a crushed heart.

"The next time we see each other, I'll be out to kill you," threatens Seth with the most severe look I've ever seen. "Get it?"

"Seth?"

"We're enemies Mia. I'll be back soon to obliterate you and you better be ready."

In fearful silence, I watch him fade away into the sunset. My shrieks and bitter cries are in vain, as the cracks in my heart deepen. Why is this happening? It's all my fault!

"Seth, please answer me! Come back, come back," my cries grow weaker. "Seth, _please come back_…"

'

I pound on the sofa cushions as endless tears stream down my cheeks. My chest feels like it's ripping apart with every tear that falls and every wail from my throat. Seth-my best friend, the one person in the world who understood me is gone. And he's coming back to…kill…

I can't even finish saying it without bursting into my tears. My chest has never hurt like this before; why did I have to push him away, the only person in this world-no, out of the millions of worlds out there-who I can say is my best friend? I will _never_ forgive myself for this.


	2. Chapter 2

That scary said today we would get the last Chaos Emerald. Then he doesn't have to ever come back and he'll leave me to be alone. Which is what I deserve-to be alone.

On a rocky, dry plain, we walk towards the abandoned building where he's sensing the last Chaos Emerald. I feel as if I've been walking along this cliff forever without realizing it. But what I do realize that what happened yesterday wasn't a nightmare. I woke up and Seth _wasn't there_.

I take out my plastic charm hiding in my pocket, wrapping the beads around my wrist. The heart glistens in the sun as I stare at it longingly. Last night, I felt as though my actual heart has a gaping hole in it; I guess this broken heart is the only thing I have left.

"Where do you think you're going?" the intimidating boy asks in his usual stiff manner. I realize that the yellow Chaos Emerald he's hunting for is now in his hand and that I was just about to walk past him. I need to get my head out of the clouds, or get Seth out of my head for that matter.

"Nowhere," I reply somberly, heading over to him as he is about to teleport. "Is that it?"

He doesn't answer, he merely holds his arm out for me to take. I sulkily hold on to his wrist and take a last look at the desolate, empty place. Is it his fault that Seth is gone? I spend more time getting Chaos Emeralds with him than I do doing nothing with Seth. Maybe-oh we teleported already, I didn't even realize it. Everything is practically dark, but I can see everything around me.

"Where are we?" I let go of his wrist and maunder towards the rough walls. He starts to head down a dimly lit path. Reluctantly, I follow behind him, still wondering why we're in a black cave. As I glance up, I gasp in horror. Yellow eyes are crawling above and next to us, going down the same path we're headed. I want to say something, but he'll just ignore it as usual. In the middle of the darkness when we reach a giant gap, he stops, takes out the last Emerald and throws it at something down below us.

"Here," he says nonchalantly. A woman chuckles as she catches it aptly.

"Good going, I think I can do this going now," she replies as she starts tapping keys on a keyboard. Kaleidoscopes of colors begin to shine coming from the Chaos Emeralds we collected. Even more Heartless eyes pour into this cavern dome, aiming towards the Chaos Emeralds' lights.

"What-are you doing," I finally have the guts to say. He simply smirks with his profile facing me. Abruptly, a tiny ruby sphere forms in the center of the dome. The Heartless start leaping into it, tainting the red with blackness. Dumfounded, I watch in amazement; as it begins to grow bigger, it suddenly hits me.

Moonlight Beach, the red sphere that sucked me in the night when I went to get Seth, it's the _same thing._

"What is this?"

"The end of this world," says he while turning to me. I step back, with my eyes glued on the augmenting sphere.

* * *

><p>"<em>Doctor, you called me? I only have one more Chaos Emerald to obtain," I said to the Doctor as I entered her laboratory. She faced me with a dirty, maniacal smile, which usually means she had a "stroke of genius".<em>

"_You know, I was going to create some sort of super-robot to threaten the President with, but something else came to me while you were out with that girl. Let me show you something," she headed over to the master monitor, turned it on and conjured a video of the falling meteoroids. Golden debris covered one of them and the Doctor paused._

"_Do you know what that is?" inquired the Doctor._

"_Debris?"_

"_Yes and no. After tracing what kind of material it's made from, it brought linked me to something else-the pseudo-Chaos Emerald you got from that other girl. The unreadable data is from the debris and that fake Chaos Emerald. I mean, I still can't interpret it properly, but I'm in the process of gathering it, using the Chaos Emeralds and applying the unreadable data to them. And do you know what happened?"_

"_No."_

_She wheeled her chair to her testing room, which had been isolated by a special glass. A ball-sized black sphere with a reddish core floated in the middle of the room. She took pleasure in my intrigued countenance._

"_What does it do?" I asked, looking at the Doctor. _

"'_What does it do' he asks,'" she repeated with a smirk, while wheeling back to her keypad. She pushed a button and a cube came from one of the tubes in the testing room. The black sphere absorbed it instantly, leaving no trace of it._

"_With this, we can destroy the entire world!" she exclaimed. Then she mumbled to herself, "then I can finally beat him." _

"_Isn't this suicide?" I wondered aloud. _

"_Don't worry, I have something for us to escape in. I've already informed the government about this, but of course, those simpletons ignored me," she shook her head disappointedly. "And now, this world can be destroyed and remade to my liking. How do you like that?"_

"_Closure," I replied with a solemn look. Closure for Angelica._

The girl gazes at the sphere with a glint of fear in her eyes and sadness. I observed earlier, as we were walking that there's something different about her. She used to have some form of light in her, even with me, but that light is gone. I can sense deep sadness and pain from within her.

"You-you can't do this!" she tentatively says. "Do you know that you're doing?"

"Who are you to tell me what I'm doing is _wrong_?" I retort with my back facing her. "You people, are always thinking what you're doing is right. At least now, I get closure."

The image of the lifeless body of Angelica flashes in my head. I'm doing this for you Angelica-the same people who killed you, they're going to die for what they've done.

I glance at the girl, who sinks her head. A single tear streams down her cheek and falls onto a rock. Abruptly, Angelica's figure replaces her, doing the exact, same action in a similar stance.

"_Don…I want to live,"_ _she pleaded._

"…you can't do this," the blue-headed girl says, making my image of Angelica dissipate. "You don't know what that thing will do to this world."

"All the heartless people in this world will be gone," I coldly state.

"And all the good people too!" she screams, startling me slightly. "I've already have my home taken away from me from the same thing and it won't give you closure."

"What makes you so damn sure?" anguish begins to rise from my body as I walk towards her. "Do you know of any good people in this world? If you do, then tell me, _where the hell are they?_ Huh? Where were the good people when Angelica died? Why didn't they help us?"

As I raise my hand, she flinches away. "All she wanted to do was live for the sake of this 'good world' you say. But no, that world took the only happiness I had and that's why they're going to pay. She was too good."

Dropping my hand, I face the much bigger black sphere. More black creatures are being sucked inside; strong winds course through the cavern. The last time I felt this way, when I felt this frustration and anguish, it was the moment Angelica collapsed in my arms.

"Would this," she whimpers feebly, "'Angelica' be happy with you doing this?"

I leer at her with shaking fists. Does she realize that she's so close to oblivion? "My happiness was taken from me too, and I just think…Angelica wouldn't…want this to happen."

"You don't even know her!" I angrily berate. "How dare you-!"

"There are bad people in this world, I've known too many of them," continues she with her teary eyes looking at my shoes, "but not all people in this world are bad. I've only been here for a short while and I know-that there aren't hateful people here. Please, don't take your anger out on them, they don't deserve it."

My memory lurches to a better time.

"_I'm so glad you're ok," Angelica said as she came into my room and hugged me. I saw the bags under her eyes._

"_Did you sleep?"_

_She shook her head with a pleasant smile. "I couldn't, not with what happened last night." She sat down next to me, gazing out the circular window. "Donny, can you make a promise with me?"_

"_A promise?" _

"_Promise me you'll always help out the good people of this world, like you did last night. They deserve to have someone save them. Ok?"_

"_Whatever you want Angelica."_

_She turned me to me and smiled as brightly as the sun that glistened in the sky._

* * *

><p>I hold onto the walls, now that the vacuum is much stronger. The winds are increasing in strength, and it's taking the little power I have to keep me grounded. I don't know what happened with this guy, but he looks as if his mind is elsewhere.<p>

Without warning, the breeze intensifies and I'm swept off my feet. Before I can fly towards the red core, the scary guy snatches my wrist with ease. He reenters the black tunnel and gently puts me down.

Flabbergasted and still terrified, I mutter, "thank you." He simply hums with a solemn look, and turns back to the powerful, full-grown sphere. Looking at it this close as compared to when I saw it farther away on Moonlight Beach, it looks terrifying and monstrous.

"Follow the tunnel all the way through. Don't look back," he says while stepping towards the sphere.

"What're you gonna do?" I wonder suspiciously.

"…"

His rings slide off his sleeves while shining a gold gleam. "Before I change my mind."

He's letting me _live_? No way, but what is he going to-?

The boy raises his hands to the ceiling as the rings position themselves around the ravenous sphere. A semi-sheer force field engulfs itself around the sphere, trying to minimize it. Now swarms of Heartless fall into the sphere, making it grow darker and larger.

I take a couple steps back, wanting to run away, but wanting to see what happens next. The boy leaps off the edge to my astonishment, approaching the sphere. I close my eyes and turn away, not ready to see him face the same fate I did days ago. His fierce grunting forces me to open my eyes and I see him floating an inch away from the dark sphere, struggling to contain it. The rings glow as bright as the sun, repelling the Heartless away.

"Ange…" he groans, losing the rest of the sentence. I start to run up the dark tunnel, being careful not to touch the Heartless-covered walls. Stopping me in my tracks is the voice I heard earlier.

"What're you doing?"

"I-"

From the eye of the storm, yellow light fills up the entire tunnel, completely destroying the Heartless lingering on the sides. I face forward and make a break for it. This feeling of fear and angst reminds of me of yesterday when I lost everything. Seth, where could you have gone?

**Wow, am I glad I re-did this story. God, I'm gonna have fun with this one soon, so stay tuned and don't forget to review!**


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